Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	bishop_n	church_n	reformation_n	2,930	5	8.7259	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42270	A short defence of the church and clergy of England wherein some of the common objections against both are answered, and the means of union briefly considered.	Grove, Robert, 1634-1696.	1681 (1681)	Wing G2160; ESTC R21438	56,753	96

was not Governed by the Mystery of Iniquity if Episcopacy be supposed to be so Clement Ignatius Polycarp and other holy men and Martyrs that had seen and conversed with some of the Apostles were all Bishops and it would be hard and uncharitable to think that such as they did not only not oppose but that they were great managers and promoters of the Mystery of Iniquity Nay I do not see if it should be thus how Timothy and Titus can be wholly excused for that they had an Episcopal power will be readily confessed and therefore they must be real Bishops and though the Apostle bid Timothy do the work of an Evangelist that was a thing very consistent with the Episcopal Office with which they were invested as it is confirmed to us by the Antients who had better opportunities than we of knowing the truth and who do account them the first Bishops of their respective Sees the one of Ephesus the other of Crete So that if we will not involve these and the other most holy men in one common guilt Episcopacy cannot be that Mystery of Iniquity that began to work so very soon It will be granted that the extent of the several Bishopricks might be various in some places of a wider and in some of a narrower compass and the number of Presbyters might be augmented as the number of Converts did increase But that one Bishop should have the Authority over many Presbyters was a thing practised in the Apostolical times and universally received in the Church and there is not the least mention to be found that this was ever to cease and any other Government or none to be established in its room So that the Church of England is very excuseable if she still retain the primitive form and it might be the highest presumption if no worse if she should attempt to make any substantial alteration in it SECT III. The next thing in the Constitution of the Church of England which is disliked by many is the Liturgy or usual Form of Prayers prescribed by Authority as the ordinary Office of our publick Devotions But it cannot be esteemed any blemish to the English Reformation that the use of these has been injoyned much less should it be accounted as a thing unlawful Before our Saviours appearance in the flesh there is no doubt but that set Forms of Prayer were lawfully used in the Jewish Church some were appointed in the Law and the whole book of Psalms is nothing else but a Collection of such composed by David and other holy men upon several occasions and fitted for the publick service of the Temple Besides these they have other Forms some of which they pretend to have been made by Esdras and some they say as old as Moses However that be Prayer being none of those Ceremonies that were to be abolished but a principal part of that natural worship which all men owe to Almighty God it may as well be offered up in a set Form now as it was then For that which was once lawful will always continue to be so unless there be some command forbidding that to us which was allowed unto them I do not find any such prohibition as this in the Gospel but of so much we are sure that there is a Prayer recommended unto us by our blessed Saviour in which it is true all things are comprized which it may be necessary at any time for a Christian to ask But yet we may not therefore think that this is not to be used by us as a Form of Prayer because it is the most excellent one that was ever made and may be proposed as the most admirable pattern by which we may direct our selves and be still furni●●ed with suitable matter in all our addresses at the throne of Grace This is no good reason why it should be laid aside because it is more exact and perfect than any other Form And that our Saviour intended it should be used as such a one it may appear in that it consists of several distinct Petitions and most of these as it has been observed by learned men were such as were then familiarly known amongst the Jews and are still to be found in some of their devotional Books And this Prayer was delivered to the Disciples at two several times in the same Words once in the Sermon upon the Mount and again when they came unto him and desired him to teach them to pray as John had taught his Disciples And this methinks might be enough to convince us that it was a Form which they were to use but to put it out of all question our blessed Lord expresly commands it After this manner or thus therefore pray ye When he bids them pray thus and then immediately sets down a certain Form who can doubt but that he plainly commands them to use that Form But if it should be possible for any one to conceive that when it is said Pray thus or after this manner no more should be implyed but only that this is to be a pattern to make other prayers by and that the following Form is not to be used to any other purpose than this to avoid that when the same Prayer is repeated by another Evangelist upon a different occasion as if the Holy Ghost had designed to prevent this exception it is not said thus or after this manner but only when ye pray say Our Father c. A command so positive and absolute that if it may be evaded I do not see but that all the precepts of the Gospel may be cancelled upon the same grounds that can be pretended for the dissolving the obligation of this If it should be said to have been no more than a temporary command laid upon the Disciples at that time and that it was to indure no longer in force but till they had attained some higher degrees of perfection which they had not then arrived unto It is manifest that this command has no such restriction annexed and it is exceeding dangerous to make any where the Scripture has expressed none For suppose we should allow it but in this instance first that the command were but temporary men's extravagant fancies would presently extend it to as many more as they pleased and when they began to dislike any command that seemed to contradict their fond opinions they would immediately decry it as a thing wherein they were not concerned that it was only intended as a help to Novices and beginners but did not oblige such great proficients and persons of such mighty attainments as all bold and ignorant Enthusiasts are apt to imagine themselves to be And thus by yielding it in one particular we should lay the way open to the making void of the whole Gospel And so it has been known by experience that some by the natural improvement of this principle have laid aside the use of Baptism and the Lord's Supper and thought themselves above

of ordaining Elders and other matters relating to the better regulation of Church affairs And he was not chosen to this Office by the people but appointed unto it by St Paul and when he had thus received this Authority from him we cannot think that he was to depend upon the People in the exercise of it For he alone is commissioned to ordain Elders without any mention of the suffrages of the multitude And there cannot be the least shadow of a conjecture framed to the contrary from the nice consideration of the word For that which is here translated Ordain is not the same with that which is used in the other place for it signifies plainly to constitute place or set up without any intimation of lifting up of hands or any way of popular Election whatsoever So that we have neither precept not Example in the Scripture for the Peoples right to the choice of their Pastors But if it should be still urged against us that the Church of England is to be condemned for want of such a free choice as may be always pretended but I believe will never be proved necessary then to this we do reply that this freedom of choice is in some sort retained in our Church for all the Ministers in it are appointed according to the known Laws of this Land and to these every one of us by our representatives have at least virtually given our consent and a virtual consent in this case is allowed to be sufficient by some of the ablest Patrons of the People's right of Election SECT VI. But it is objected farther that the want of Discipline in our parochial Churches is a very great and unsufferable defect But there is no cause given for such an exception for every Minister has the approbation of those that are to be admitted and is impowered to reject scandalous offenders from the Holy Communion And these are certainly parts of Discipline which with the other acts of the Ministerial office shew that there is some order and Government in our parochial Assemblies If this should not be esteemed enough because in them we cannot inflict the highest kind of Ecclesiastical censures we do not conceive that there is any necessity that such a power should be granted unto them since it is abundantly supplyed by the Authority of the Diocesan which reaches every particular Church in the whole Jurisdiction And it would be as unreasonable to think that there is no Discipline in a Parish because there are some acts of it which cannot be there performed as it would be for the inhabitants of a village or hamlet to complain that they were under no Government because they had not the Power of life and death amongst themselves for the defects of the one are made up by the power of the Diocesan Church and those of the other by that of the Commonwealth whereof they are respective parts I do not find that our Saviour or his Apostles have made it necessary that all offences should be finally censured by the sole Power of that Congregation where they were committed This were to set up an uncontroulable Authority in every private Assembly and every twenty or thirty men or it may be fewer that should be pleased to enter into Covenant together and call themselves a Church as some contend they may would be ipso facto invested with a Power of determining all matters of Ecclesiastical cognizance without Appeal which is more than most Papists will allow to the Bishop of Rome What foundation there is for the erecting such a boundless power I cannot tell neither can I guess what good use is ever like to be made of it if it should be granted but this I know that the Church of England which is a society of Christians imbodied under certain Laws and Governours cannot be accused for want of Discipline if she does not permit the full exercise of it in our parochial Churches For in all Communities every member is influenced and directed by the good Constitution of the whole Body and what cannot be legally judged in a lower may be reserved for the decision of a superiour Court SECT VII But some are still dissatisfied with the Church of England because they imagine it is not a pure Church and if they have an opportunity of joining with another which they can suppose to be purer they think themselves obliged to do it For the resolution of this doubt these few things may be considered What it is that makes a pure Church Whether the Church of England be such a one Whether we are always bound to join with that Church which we conceive to be the most pure Now that Church questionless may be said to be pure whose doctrine is consonant to the word of God where the Sacraments are duly administred where all the fundamental Articles of our Faith are publickly imbraced where men are not required to profess or to do any thing that is contrary to the Rule of the Holy Gospel Such a Church cannot be denyed to be Pure For here is not the mixture of any unclean thing that can taint it with the least imaginable impurity or impress any blot or stain upon it Then that the Church of England is thus pure it will not be difficult to shew before any impartial Judge For what Doctrine does she teach that is not to be found in the Holy Scriptures What Sacrament does she deprive the people of either in the whole or in part What Article of our Belief is it that she rejects What is it that is repugnant to the Laws of Christ which she obliges us either to believe or practise Does she tell us that the Elements in the Holy Encharist are transubstantiated by a few Syllables pronounced by him that Officiates Does she teach us to adore Saints and Images and to pray for the Dead Does she cheat the people with forged Miracles and impose upon their credulity with foppish Legends Does she kindle an imaginary Purgatory fire in the other world that she may set up a thriving trade for Indulgences in this Can she be accused of these corruptions or a hundred more that might be named Is not her Doctrine confessed to be pure And is not her Discipline such at least as is not forbidden And if she be sound in both these I do not discern from what other fountains any Impurity can be derived upon Her And for what has been commonly excepted concerning the use of some external and Indifferent things she cannot possibly contract any thing of pollution from these for if they do not defile a man much less will they be able to corrupt a Church But though the Church of England should be proved and granted to be a pure Church yet we are still to inquire Whether if we can find some other which we esteem to be more pure we are not bound to join with that And to this it may be answered that when a Church is so